As the celebrations of Bangladesh's golden jubilee of independence and Mujib Borsho kick off at Dhaka's National Parade Ground Wednesday on the occasion of the birthday of its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a Paris-based think tank has once again highlighted the horrific genocide committed by the Pakistani Army during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih would attend the birth centenary celebrations tommorrow, followed by Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 19, Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari on March 22, Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering on March 24 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 26.
But even as global leaders descend upon the Bangladeshi capital, or address various events virtually, a special report released by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA) reminds everyone the valiant struggle waged against the Pakistani Army by the then people of East Pakistan.
The report titled 'East Pakistan Genocide: Still Yearns for Global Acknowledgement' says that the Liberation War, marked by the horrific genocide committed by the Pakistani Army and razakars, or collaborators and in which three million people were killed, half-a-million girls and women were raped, and entire villages were laid to waste, is not acknowledged widely even to this date.
Some of the 1,222 martyred intellectuals who made sacrifices for Bangladesh in 1971
It emphasizes that March 25 holds special significance being commemorated as the Genocide Day as on this day 50 years back, Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ resulting in the worst genocide in human history over a period of nine months till the Army was defeated.
"The Bangladesh genocide is considered to be the largest and longest since it covers the entire length of the nine-month long Liberation War of Bangladesh. Ironically, the Bangladesh genocide remains unrecognised while other genocides in Europe and Africa have been acknowledged. It is pity and matter of shame that the genocide which killed more than the holocaust and was aimed at changing ethnicity of a group is yet to be globally recognised," writes Mario de Gasperi.
The author quotes noted journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, listing the targets of the genocide as the Bengali militarymen of the East Bengal Regiment, the East Pakistan Rifles, police and para-military Ansars and Mujahids; the Hindu community; the Awami Leaguers (all office bearers and volunteers down to the lowest link in the chain of command); the students and the Bengali intellectuals such as professors and teachers whenever damned by the army as “militant.”
The report details how men became primary targets (almost 80 percent male, as reported by the Bangladesh Genocide Archives) and the abduction and subsequent rape of women by soldiers took place in camps for months.
Gasperi lists the three phases of genocide by Pakistan Army:
– Operation Searchlight was the first phase which took place from late March to early May. It began as a massive murder campaign during the night of March 25, 1971.
– Search and Destroy was the second where Pakistani forces methodically slaughtered villages from May to October. This is the longest phase because this is when Bengali forces mobilized and began to fight back; This was also the phase in which the Pakistan army targeted women to rape, abduct, and enslave.
– “Scorched Earth” was the third phase beginning in early December, and targeted and killed 1,000 intellectuals and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers in Dhaka. The Pakistani Army surrendered to Indian forces days later, ending the genocide on December 16, 1971.
The reports says that during these nine months from March to December 1971, the erstwhile East Pakistan witnessed a full collapse of humanity. The carnage by Pakistan Army continued till their shameful surrender in mid-December, 1971. Atrocities and butchery of Pak Army are by now well established and documented not only by Bangladeshis but also international researchers, historians, scholars and news media.
"General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan and his top generals planned to murder Bengali intellectual, cultural, and political elite. They also planned to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of Hindus and drive the rest into India. And they planned to destroy the East Pakistan’s economic base to ensure that it would be subordinate to West Pakistan for at least a generation to come," writes Gasperi.
The Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh (Martyred Intellectuals Day) is observed every year on December 14 to commemorate those top intellectuals of the region (including authors, writers, physicians, teachers, scientists, etc) who were gathered from their homes in the dark at night and killed brutally by the Pakistani forces led by a "cabal of five Pakistani generals" – President Yahya Khan, General Tikka Khan, chief of staff General Pirzada, security chief General Umar Khan, and intelligence chief General Akbar Khan – who orchestrated the events.
"There is no doubt that the mass killing in Bangladesh was among the most carefully and centrally planned of modern genocides. These 'willing executioners' were fuelled by an abiding anti-Bengali racism, especially against the Hindu minority. The goal of the operation was to crush the Bengali nationalist movement through fear; however, the opposite occurred," concludes Gasperi.
In the past few months, the Sheikh Hasina government has already highlighted the issue of 1971 atrocities committed by Pakistan on global platform, including seeking an official apology from the current Imran Khan government.
“The incidents of 1971 can’t be forgotten. The pain will remain there forever,” Hasina told Pakistani High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Ahmed Siddiqui last December.
As Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of its independence, it is perhaps high time that Islamabad accepts its role in the mass killings.
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